Debate contribution: Ageing Population: Strategic Plan
Debate contribution by Ms Sinéad McLaughlin on .
- MLA
- Ms Sinéad McLaughlin
- Party at the time
- Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Date
- 25 February 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Ageing Population: Strategic Plan
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4815145
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I pay tribute to Claire Sugden for tabling the motion. I know that the issue is very close to her heart, and she is a great champion for older people. I cannot believe that it is Claire's first private Member's motion after 11 years. It is welcome that she is seeking to challenge the Executive on their failure to prepare for an ageing society. Planning for our ageing population is not just a case of ensuring that those who have contributed to our society and economy are properly recognised, supported and valued in later life. It is a challenge of immense strategic importance for our public services, given our changing population. As others have said, by 2029, people aged over 65 will outnumber those aged under 15 in our population for the first time. That will have significant implications for three areas, which I will highlight: our health service, our infrastructure and our economy. First, our ageing population presents clear challenges for Health. As people live longer with multiple conditions, we need a health service that can manage that complexity of need.
In 2023, 38% of respondents to an Age NI survey reported difficulties in booking a GP appointment when required. We all know the challenges that face the social care system and the enormous challenges that people across Northern Ireland experience when trying to access care more widely. A health service that is fit for purpose in later life is a promise that we make to future generations, along with a care system that works for everyone and properly values the unpaid carers who prop up that health service and social care system. There is more evidence for the provision of paid carer's allowance, which my party advocates, and for the Government to develop and integrate the expertise on artificial intelligence that can help to respond to some of the challenges for our older population.
Secondly, when it comes to our infrastructure, older people must be guaranteed support when they need it and independence when they want it. That includes proper public transport that can allow older people to stay connected to their communities; public infrastructure that can address the silent killer of loneliness; measures to boost health and well-being, preventing illnesses so that fewer people need to access the health service in the first place; and building homes with adaptions to sustain and support people to have fulfilled and safe lives in their own surroundings. Thirdly, our economy needs to work for older people. It is no surprise that some of the highest rates of economic inactivity are among workers over 50. As Age NI has pointed out, by 2070, there will be only two people of working age for every pensioner. Others have said that, but that is a really stark statistic, and we are not planning for that future, which is not that far away. Those facts will have huge implications and must be accounted for in government planning. In Derry and across the North, far too many pensioners face poverty. In 2022-23, that accounted for around 36,000 people. Tackling it will require effort from the Government, but, most important, it will require an anti-poverty strategy to finally be published and agreed. That strategy should help to address the cost of energy for older people, improve the quality and take-up of benefits in later life and deal with the pernicious impact of the financial scams being perpetrated by bad-faith actors. The three areas of health, infrastructure and economy have significant implications for the delivery of our public services, but are the Government really serious about our older people? Do they have a grip on the challenge and a clear plan in place to meet it? We have had commitments on age discrimination legislation in the 2011-15 Programme for Government, the 2016-2022 active ageing strategy and the 2020 New Decade, New Approach agreement. Will the current Executive be different and deliver legislation that can protect and fulfil the rights of older people? They simply must be. In conclusion, older people —
— sometimes tell us that they feel invisible, dismissed or sidelined. The Executive must not fuel such perceptions through inaction and further delay.
697 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.04 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.96).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.04 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.03 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.96 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.04 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 1.00 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:01 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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